Disabilities aren't weakness
by Kittykat1418
Summary: When young 12 year old Katherine's beloved pet Eevee evolves, it is soon discovered that the young psychic type is actually unable to use her psychic talents. Feeling sorry for her beloved pet, Katherine fights tooth and nail to protect her from her parents who consider her worthless now. Her will to prove that disabilities aren't weakness is strong. Rated T.
1. Evolution - Prologue

"Ee-vee-vee! (Let me at it!)" a young and slightly feminine cry was heard through the large and beautiful modern home, originating from the backyard where a young, 7-maybe year old girl were playing with her beloved pet Eevee. Around the pet's neck was a black collar with a shiny silver stone that had been crafted from a moon stone. The little pet was chasing, with ears perked and shiny mint green eyes sharp, after a toy Pidgey that was attached to a light string, that the young girl was controlling. "Vee! (Get here!)" the little Pokemon grasped the toy in her cute little mouth, trying to keep it still. She was like a Persian, hunting down her prey.

Smiling, the young girl moved the toy again out of the Pokemon's loose grasp and pulled it up onto her lap. This attracted the young brown Pokemon onto the girl's lap, where she gave a small purr of 'ee~' and curled up in a comfortable position. The young girl lips morphed into a pretty little smile, looking down at the comfortable Pokemon on her lap. "That's a good girl," she gently petted around the Pokemon's ears only to elicit more purrs from the sweet and almost playful creature in her lap. She adored her pet so much, there was nothing else to say about it.

"Vee-vee (Thanks)," the little Pokemon expressed her gratitude in her own little voice, even though her trainer wasn't capable of understanding her thoughts. As she looked up, her mint eyes gleamed brightly to match her shining smile. "Eevee...vee-vee (I love you so much, Katherine)," after saying this, the young Pokemon got up as if reacting to something. This surprised the young girl for a moment, as she looked down at the Eevee.

"Dawn?" with a gentle whisper, Katherine mentioned her pet's nickname in a delicate and confused manner. What was up with the normal type. But she knew what was happening instantly when Dawn began to glow in a wispy and mystical manner, the bright light overtaking the blonde haired girl's purple eyes for a few minutes.

As the glow progressed, Dawn's bushy tail thinned down to a elongated and small diameter tail that shortly split into 2 parts about halfway through the tail. Her ears were next to change, they lost length and gained volume instead. Two little bushy limb-like formations pushed out of the head below the ears on either side. In general, Dawn's small body enlarged and her legs thinned into delicate limbs. Moments later, a bright pale ruby flash could be seen in the center of the Pokemon's forehead

After the light faded, Katherine looked down at Dawn - who was startled herself - and took a few moments of silence before she whispered out. "Dawn?" this caused the purple colored cat-like creature to look up, her gleaming green eyes full of surprise...but interest over her new form, the typical curiosity of a cat-like Pokemon steeping in. Then caused the young child to relax, her Pokemon had evolved. "You're an Espeon now," she walked over and opened her arms for the psychic type to snuggle against her. "Congratulations."

"Espy...(Evolve...)," the Pokemon made a slight sound, almost a purr, before freezing a little at the new sound of her matured and elegant voice. But she soon relaxed and snuggled against her beloved owner. "Espeon-espy...eon espeon (Thank you...it's my love that evolved me)," even thought she knew that Katherine wasn't able to hear her voice, she still wished to say it out loud in a briefest of hopes that her new psychic powers might hold through.

However nothing went through and in fact, the newly evolved Pokemon felt psychologically drained - something that shouldn't be the case at all. She had heard many many stories from psychics that she had met, since Katherine's parents were skilled trainers. Stories that stated that when a psychic Pokemon evolved, their psychic powers are at the strongest and your supposed to feel really strong and such. But...she was the exact opposite, she felt like she wanted to fall into a deep slumber for years.

At that moment, Katherine's father came out and took one look at the Espeon before smiling gently. "Good work, Kat. Your Eevee evolved into an Espeon," walking over, he brushed over the back of the newly evolved psychic type. His fingers gently stroked over the delicate spinal cord on the psychic coated Pokemon, who purred a little at the motion. "Lets see..." he muttered, he was skilled with psychic types and knew how to determine their psychic potential. First, he took a strong look at the beautiful gem embedded into Dawn's forehead. "Dim..." he muttered, clearly unimpressed with that. "Alright, Dawn," he knew to address the Pokemon by her nickname, since she had never responded to her species' name in the past. "I need you to attempt to communicate telepathically."

Listening sharply, Dawn tried and tried and tried. But not once did that link, the link that would allow her to speak her mind freely to the man, occurred and instead her powers remained hazy and weak like she was in a mist. After a few moments, the man's disappointment in her only grew. "Your psychic powers, are you even capable of using them?" he made that disappointed and quite aggressive question that caught Katherine's attention and worried her.

"What do you mean, papa?" the young 7 year old asked, evidently worried for her beloved pet's ability to use her particular type's skills. She fidgeted a little on the spot, her nervousness making her even more worried about her 3 year old pet. After a moment, her voice cracked out of her throat like a raspy cough. "...Is D-dawn alright?"

Memories of her's and Dawn's first meeting filled her mind, images of Dawn's hatching into her arms and the imprinting that the young Eevee had believed meant Dawn was her mother originally. Until her actual mother told her, said mother was a Vaporeon that Katherine's mother owned, that wasn't the case. But regardless of the truth, the pair had remained really close - so close that both of Katherine's parents said from really early on that Dawn would be Katherine's first and starting Pokemon when she began her journey through the Hoenn region.

These memories only added to the 7 year old's worries, she didn't want her beloved pet and friend to be potentially hurt. "...Is she Papa?" she asked again, a slight breath of worry leaving her throat. She remained fidgety, hoping that all of her fears were just that. Fears. Nothing that was reality.

"She's completely fine in her health, sweetie," he said, not wishing to upset the young child anymore then she already was. That seemed to relax Katherine for the moment, but the next line certainly perked her anxiety again. "However, her psychic powers are either unstable or non-existent. I'm not fully certain yet, I need to confirm if she learnt any moves when she evolved and have her test them," he released his Alakazam. "Alakazam, talk to this Espeon and tell me if she knows if she learnt a move and if she would use it."

"Alakazam (Ay ay, boss)," the yellow human-like Pokemon said, before kneeling down to more match the purple coated Pokemon's level. He spoke in a kinda intimidating and gruff way to the young Pokemon, as if talking down to a child. There was no sign of sympathy or interest in the prospect that the young Pokemon was incapable of doing what he could. "Ala ka zam zam ala (You heard the boss right, did you learnt anymore when you evolved)

"Espy py es (Confusion)," she responded, before realizing she'd need to use the move. She summoned all of her strength, not that she had a lot of it. And forced the move to be executed, levitating some of the nearby objects, including the Pidgey toy that she had been playing with earlier, in a unstable manner before collapsing to the ground in a fit of exhaustion. Her eyes fading slightly as her energy just left her, she couldn't understand it. She was supposed to be one of the strongest psychic types...right? She had been bred for this, but then...why was she...so...weak? There was strength in her movement, but little control that was allowing her to utilize that strength - leaving the rest of her weak and hollow as a psychic type.

Upon seeing this, that concerned Katherine as she moved towards to Dawn to help her up - only to be stopped by her father. At this, she let out a worried question as she stared at Dawn's panting form. As she looked at her father, she saw...almost no concern in his eyes."W-what does that mean, papa? C-can Dawn not use her psychic powers properly..."

"Well, she can use them - but it's clear that she's inept at the ability to control it..." taking a deep breathe, he turned to his daughter and put his big hands on her small shoulders. After doing this, which confused and worried the young girl, he began to say in the least worried or interested voice. "I'm sorry to say, but your Espeon will never be capable of doing battles on any reasonable degree of skill. I'd recommend getting rid of her."

"...Get rid..." the moment after she clicked on what her father had just said, Katherine went mad and almost insane. "NO! NO! NO!" she screamed, at the top of her lungs with frustrated tears in her amethyst orbs as she stomped the ground in a fit of rage - her pigtailed blonde haired bounced with each moment, swinging against the wind in a drastic manner. Her emotions just went wild in that second, unleashed with zero control. It was actually within that moment that her father knew she had a mental condition, that had been left unnoticed prior. "I won't let you get rid of her. I'll raise her, I'll prove that she will be amazing! She doesn't need to be the perfect psychic type!"

If there was one thing that Katherine was going to prove, it was that her father's 'get rid' solution was completely wrong. No Pokemon deserved to be put down for being slightly inadequate, every Pokemon is special and unique. But trainable all the same to do amazing things. Maybe Dawn could do something that no other Pokemon was capable of, her father didn't know that at the end of the day. Her foot stamped the grassy ground as she continued to scream out the repetitive 'NO' over and over in a nearly inconsolable way.

The two psychic types were watching the young girl in her unstable tantrum, which was the best word either could come up with to describe it. After a moment, Dawn's eyes widened as she noticed her beloved trainer was clawing into her shoulders in her angered state with no control over her being. "Espy eon! (Katherine!)," Dawn yelped, running over to her trainer and rubbing against her a few times in attempt to calm her down. During this, a small bell could be heard ringing in the background which relaxed Katherine from her heightened state of emotions.

"Heal Bell...I never knew she knew that," the old man muttered, looking down at the young Pokemon. "Fine, you can keep her. Don't disappoint me. When you turn 10, you'll be going to Professor Birch and getting your 'starter' Pokemon. After that...don't come home until you have won the league or whatever your path will be. I don't want to know about it," he began to walk away, clearly trying to keep his disappointment hidden. But it was obvious to the young child that had been left in his wake.

"I promise, father. I'll prove it to you that just because a Pokemon has a limitation, they aren't worthless or weak. Dawn is perfect in her own way. And honestly...I'm gonna prove it, I'll raise more Pokemon like her. Ones that are rejected by selfish people like you!" she empathized the 'you' sharply, she wanted her message to be clear. Tears were still streaming down her face, as she held a tight embrace around her psychic type's neck.

She would prove it! She had to! For Dawn's sake...and for other Pokemon's sake.


	2. Beginnings - Chapter 1

Dawn trotted along behind her trainer, it had been 3 years since the evolution that lead to problem after problem. Shortly after the evolution, Katherine's father actually began to in a sense emotionally neglect his own daughter as he felt so disappointed in her. Meanwhile, the 10 year old herself was upset and distressed. It was distressing that her own father seemed to hate her, hate her wish to protect her beloved Pokemon.

Today; Kat was heading to Littleroot town to meet with Professor Birch to collect her 'starter' Pokemon and pokedex to confirm that she was capable of heading out on her journey. When she arrived at the ranch, she saw a group of Pokemon. Many Torchic, Mudkip and Treecko. However, one of the Mudkip caught her eye more so than the others. There was just something about it that got her interested in seeing it up close and personal.

Deciding to leave any sort of staring until she was in the building, the moment she got in; she made it fully clear what she was here for. "Professor Birch!" she called out, loudly as Dawn followed her in and sniffed the area for other Pokemon. After a few moments of silence, she continued in the same loud voice. Not demanding, just loud. "It's me, Katherine. Mama called a few days ago to ask if I could come collect a Pokemon!"

"Yes, yes," the old man said as he walked in from the ranch with a big smile plastered on his muddy and slightly bruised face. He was clearly friendly, and very much a field scientist as opposed to the hands-off approach of some of the other professors. "Katherine and Dawn, your mother told me about you...and your problems with why you need to leave as soon as possible. Come along, lets get the 'starter' Pokemon so that your not causing anymore tension between you and your father."

Nodding, Katherine followed him with nearly dull eyes. Over the last couple of years, both Kat and Dawn had changed in drastic ways. The once sweet and innocent little girl, who had her mild issues with her mental condition, had changed into quite a cold and almost distant girl who only cared about Pokemon. Humans were meaningless, unless they were needed for something. That's often how she felt. As for Dawn, the once playful and energetic Eevee had been replaced with the calm and loyal Espeon who had to watch her steps in the house as one mess up with a magic outburst and she could have been put to sleep. She didn't wish that and so her personality changed to accommodate for it.

As Kat entered the backyard, the first thing she did was head over to the lonely Mudkip that was sat under a tree near the pond and far away from his fellow species. And it soon became obvious why, his head fin was overly short and was clearly unable to have the detection ability that it was well known for. And his tail-fin was heavily ripped, maybe from a injury in his earlier years or maybe a birth defect. She'd have to ask. Kneeling down to Dawn. "Lets go over and talk to that little guy, he's clearly got a disability and remember what we agreed."

"Espeon eon (Alright, Kat)," the purple Pokemon made a slight calm nod before walking alongside her trainer to the young Mudkip. It soon became apparent to Kat that this Mudkip was incredible young, maybe a few months of age. So the chances of the ripped tail fin being the cause of a fight was getting slimmer. When they got close, Dawn was the first to make a sound as she could vocally talk to the young Pokemon. "Eepy? (Mudkip?)."

"Mud? Kip kip kip mudkip (Hi? Um...you're a trainer Pokemon?)," he asked, his sweet little voice questioning the Espeon without being too invasive. It was clear that this was a baby, who was very sweet and innocent to the world. Not receiving an answer more than a nod, he looked over to Kat with those big shiny eyes of curiosity. This brought a smile to Kat's face as she knelt down near the young water type. "Kippa (You trainer)?"

Even though she couldn't understand Pokemon, she had gathered a vague idea of what the little Pokemon had just asked her as she whispered in a relaxed and caring voice as she gently and cautiously reached her arm out to see if he'll let her pet him - which he actually did as she spoke. "My name is Katherine, little one. I don't mind to bring you harm, in fact I wanted to ask if you would join my team. We don't discriminate against those with...complications like yourself."

"Mud? (Really?)," the little one asked, his eyes twinkling with a vague mixture of sadness and happiness merged into one mess of emotion. Seconds later, he nuzzled against the girl's leg without a second care and made it very obvious that he wished to become her 'starter' Pokemon and go along. "Mudkip kip mud...(I thought nobody wanted me...)" small tears left his eyes, as Kat picked up him and held him carefully. "Kip mud... (But you...)," those tears faded into a graceful smile as he wagged his ripped tail almost like a dog.

"Don't worry, little one. I'll take good care of you, your disability will never be a weakness and we intend to make that known. Right, Dawn," she looked down at the nekomata-like Pokemon at her legs, those graceful emerald orbs gazing back at her with lots of loyalty and love. The mutual trust was evident to Mudkip, making him more and more willing to join them on their journey. It was rare to see such mutual love between trainer and Pokemon, especially when it was implied that said Pokemon had a natural disadvantage.

Shortly after the union of the trio, Professor Birch came over with a selection of starters that he had clearly hand-picked only to look shocked by what the young and new trainer had done. "You have already selected a Pokemon, Katherine?" he asked, looking down at the disabled Mudkip in her arms. But a smile arose on his face. "But, considering that Pokemon, I can understand why you wished to pick him."

"Professor, might I ask? Mudkip, his tail and head fin. Are those naturally born or were they inflicted on him," she wished to know, as she held Mudkip delicately in her arms like one would hold a baby - just not on his back. At her feet, Dawn had curled against her legs with the same look of curiosity in her eyes. In Kat's arms, the baby Mudkip's pink eyes were twinkling with joy at the prospect of being adopted into their family as he didn't even listen to what his soon-to-be trainer had asked.

Sighing, the professor decided and waved for Katherine to follow him inside. After handing her a Pokemon with a little water mark on it, he began to explain. "All of the Pokemon here have been breed by breeders across Hoenn, and so was this Mudkip of yours. When he arrived, he was like that and since there's very little time between their hatching and arrival. I can only assume that he was born like this. It's been a few months since then and every trainer, every trainer I've shown him to, rejected him and wished to have nothing to do with a Mudkip incapable of using it's radar abilities. Until you came along," he smiled gently, patting Mudkip's head. "I'm sure Mudkip will be in kind hands. Now, do you intend to give him a nickname? Like you have done with Dawn."

"Kibber? (Name?)" the young Pokemon muttered, clearly intrigued himself. Name, that meant something exclusive decided for him...right? He'd have something to be called by, a name that wasn't linked to his species. That sounded amazing and Kat saw it in his eyes as that thought occurred and his muttering actually had given her the idea for his name. "Kibbla kibba! (Give me a name, please!)"

"Kibbles, I think it fits him pretty well," the moment Mudkip heard her say this, he let out a loud and happy cry of his name that purposely stated his happiness of the name that he had just been given. It was his, his name! "Guessing you like that name, don't you buddy?" that came with another loud response that one could only translate to 'yes'. This got him to receive a gently pet around the orange gills that protruded from his blue head.

"I'm guessing so," the professor laughed heartingly. "I'm assuming that good ol' Dawn already has a poke ball," he eyed the belt that was clipped around Kat's waist and saw the pink heart poke ball that was a love ball. Then he moved slightly to pick up the pokedex that he had in storage ready for her. Handing it to her. "Well, here's your pokedex. I'm sure you will make some use of it in your quest to prove to your father that Dawn and Kibbles aren't weaklings because of their disabilities. Correct?"

At this point, Katherine was tired and just wished to leave the room. She didn't wish to see another human until she made it to Rustboro now. All she wished to see was Dawn, Kibbles and maybe another Pokemon to catch along the way. So she simple nodded her head, and prepared herself to leave by gently recalling Kibbles to his poke ball whilst letting Dawn continue to walk alongside her. All she said before she left was a quick goodbye, before exiting and taking a deep sigh of relief at leaving the tense, to her, situation.

Arceus, did she hate having autism so badly. It had been diagnosed during the few years between Dawn's evolution and today, and it had only added to the problems that everyone had to suffer. And only intensified her father's disappointment and her own will to prove him wrong about not only her Pokemon...but herself as well. Leaving onto route one, she took a seat on a local bench where she took another sigh of relief.

Sat before her, Dawn had a look of concern that spoke only the quietest of the question 'are you alright'. To this, Katherine just answered with a simple. "I'm good, thanks for asking. God, that was exhausting. But we have a new friend, another member of the squad. Wonder what father would say if he knew I intended to get a full team of Pokemon like yourself and myself. Disabled and problematic, hard to train. But together, I know we have the will to conquer anything put in our way."

"Espeon espy eon (I know, you'll do your best)," the 6 year old Pokemon commented to her trainer, this was only the first step and both knew that. But they were ready. Disabilities or not, they would prove to the world that they were capable of passing over the pain and hardship that came along with their conditions. And both knew that Kibbles felt the same way, as his Pokemon was transmitting a light glow that indicated he was listening in.

Getting up, she looked down at Dawn and released Kibbles from his poke ball. "Lets get moving, we should get to Oldale Town to rest up at the poke center before night fall. We need to make the most of the centers, as occasionally we won't have them to fall back on. Be on guard, Pokemon may be lurking around and we need to be on our wit's end if we are to fend for ourselves. The world is a tough place, but we will prove it wrong."

Both Pokemon nodded, as they began the journey through route 1 towards Oldale Town. As they walked through the route, they passed by Kat's home. None of them even turned to look at it, knowing the rules or not in the case of Kibbles. The rule that Katherine's father had made very clear when his disappointment began, do not return once you have started your journey until you have something to show for your efforts. "Hoenn's going to be a hard journey, so much water routes to get through and we have no boat..." she turned to Kibbles. "Maybe once you're a Swampert, we'll be able to see if you can surf. But hopefully it won't fall on that. But we can expect this journey will take a few years at the very least."

Neither Pokemon made a complaint, they knew that their journey would be slow on progression anyway. They would need months of training between gyms, if they would have a chance against fully able Pokemon. Dawn only had a handful of moves not from her typing that were hard to use and who knows what would happen if Kibbles' sensor was needed. It was a worrying situation, but one that they were gonna conquer.

"Oh yeah," kneeling down, Katherine scanned both Pokemon with her pokedex. She needed an idea for moves and abilities. Such that she wasn't fully aware of for Dawn and what she totally wasn't aware of for Kibbles at this moment. It took a few moments for each entry to go into the pokedex, but eventually it did. Both Pokemon seemed to share in her interest over their dex entries, maybe they didn't know much as well.

Name: Espeon.  
Registered nickname: Dawn  
Age: 5  
Gender: Female  
Ability: Magic Bounce  
Moves: Heal Bell, Swift, Psybeam and Bite  
Extra notes: This Pokemon has a problem with it's ability to use it's psychic powers. Trainer, expect a difficult time with training this Pokemon.

Honestly, if a dex entry could bug Kat then this would be the perfect case. She already was well aware of the major glaring detail of Dawn's inept psychic abilities. Not once did she need to be told that it would be a difficult time to raise the Pokemon. It was a pain that the machines were almost insulting her Pokemon, a pain that she majorly was disgusted with. But she shook her eyes as she waited on the machine to register Kibbles as well, which it shortly did - scanning in the young Mudkip.

Name: Mudkip  
Registered nickname: Kibbles  
Age: 5 months  
Gender: Male  
Ability: Torrent  
Moves: Tackle, Mud Slap and Water Gun.  
Extra notes: This Pokemon has a smaller-than-average head fin, it will have problems detecting oncoming moves. Trainer, take note of this for future reference.

Well, the information was helpful at the very least. Annoying, but helpful. At that moment, a Zigzagoon came up and attacked them with a powerful tackle attack. Reacting fast, Katherine made the call to Kibbles to retaliate. "Tackle, Kibbles!" she made the call, loud and clear. There was no split second of hesitation. Just a clear call, that the young blue Pokemon quickly executed and effectively scared the Pokemon away from the ground. "Lets get moving quicker, that guy might come back with his friends."

With the number of wild Poochyena and Zigzagoon, progression through the route was kinda slow. But they managed to make it to Oldale before the sun went down below the horizon, which was their goal. Heading quickly to the Pokemon Center, they made sure to arrive before it was closing time to allowing new trainers in that wasn't an emergency. Heading to the front desk, she saw Nurse Joy quickly. After this, she returned her Pokemon and handed them over for healing

"Ah, are you here to check into the rooms?" the nurse asked, as she took the poke balls handed to her and quickly placed them on the nearby machine. Deciding against talking at the moment, Kat just nodded. "Alright, sigh on this paper please," the nurse handed a piece of paper that already had a list of names. Kat just added her full name and took her Pokemon back after they were finished healing. Releasing them again, she headed over to the phone booth and dialed her mother's number. She and her mama had made an agreement to keep in contact, whilst making sure her father weren't in the picture.

After a few dials, the number finally went through and the video turned on to show her mother's face as she held the phone to her ear. "Hi, mama. I wanted to check in with you to update you on my status," she picked up Kibbles and placed him down on the desk so he was in full view on the screen. Said Pokemon stared up at the screen, with interest clear in his salmon-pink eyes as he wondered what it did. When Kat's mother began to speak, he actually tumbled backwards into Kat's arms - which she smiled at, but returned him to the sitting position shortly after.

"Oh my, what a cutie," then Kat could see that her mother was scanning him, maybe looking for a disability of such. She knew about her daughter's plans and would definitely know to try to figure out the problem. "I see; a deformed head-fin and ripped tail fin. Were these from a previous accident or birth?" the question hung in the ear for a bit, Kat could see the worry in her mother's eyes. If it was an accident, then what was that accident. It was obvious.

"Professor Birch thinks that they are birth defects, but he cannot be sure as he didn't see Kibbles when he hatched," came the comment from the 10 year old, as she revealed her Pokemon's nickname to her mother. "But, I intend to prove that just 'cause this hinders his ability in water and his detection, doesn't mean he's useless in battle. He'll be prefect in the Rustboro gym, won't you?"

"Mudkip kip! (I intend to do my best!)," there was determination in his voice, but a relatively sweet and caring internal personality. He would never seriously hurt anything, that was obvious in any sense. After this, Kat smiled at her Pokemon and put him down next to Dawn as both of them stood loyally and protective. When she saw the young Pokemon next her, Dawn wrapped her twin-tail around his back in a protective manner - knowing to always protect the young.

"Well, sweetie. Your father will be home soon so I need to get off the phone, but be sure to call me soon. I don't mean tomorrow, as I know it may take you a few days to get through route 2 to Petalburg City. But as soon as you make it there, be sure to call me again and update me on any progress you make," the words of her mother were actually stern, she was being a little demanding - telling Kat that she needed to do what she had asked. But Kat wasn't mad, she knew it was just her mother worrying about her.

"Will do mother, night," she said, before the line went dead. Sighing, she put her phone back on it's hook. When she was on the phone, she felt like she could be normal. This was her mother, the only person who supported her to the fullest that wasn't a Pokemon. She just felt like she could trust and act normal around her mother. It was kinda odd. Turning to the Pokemon, she smiled gently and said. "Alright, guys. Lets head to the rooms."

Both Pokemon made a medium volume cry of agreement, before the trio headed to their room number. Kat had received a key to the room and it was quite the spacious room, clearly made in case a pair of trainers had been traveling together. 2 beds that were perfectly made and looked really comfortable. In between the beds was an end table, and there were two cupboards on either side of the room. "Alright, I'll have one bed and you two can then share the other so you don't have to sleep in your poke balls."

That clearly made Dawn happy, who had pretty much her whole life had the lap of luxury. Well, until her evolution and even then. She had a Pokemon-house, but she never used it. Opting to sleep in Katherine's large, princess-sized pet more often that not. Not that Kat really complained, she loved having Dawn nearby. And Kibbles wasn't much different, he clearly was enjoying himself. It was likely he had never slept in a bed before - his reaction of feeling the softness was certainly telling of such. But he soon plonked himself down and dozed off, as Dawn and Kat watched with smiles.

Shortly after putting her stuff down, her bag and belt, and getting changed into her pajamas, Kat laid down in her own bed and stared at Dawn - who has happily laying on the bed. Her collar had been removed, something that the psychic type had learnt to do herself using the limited telekinesis she could manage, and was laying on the end table. But Kat didn't complain, and whispered. "Night, Dawn. Night, Kibbles..." and she closed her eyes, settling down into dream land.

"Espy...(Night, Kat...)" the Espeon purred, as she laid her head down on the pillow. Just before she slipped into her sleep, she made another short whisper. "Eon...(Love you...)."


	3. What we take for granted - Chapter 2

Maybe it was never her best idea, but she managed to defeat most of the wild Pokemon in order to get Kibbles some experience in battling. He had even learnt Mud Slap on the way, which certainly helped with it's ability to effect the opponent's accuracy in battle. However, what Kat was truly after was a Pokemon with a disability. She would keep that promise to herself, so when she saw the bouncy Buneary in the distance - she immediately scanned it with her dex.

Name: Buneary  
Registered nickname: This Pokemon doesn't have a nickname.  
Age: 1  
Gender: Female  
Ability: Klutz  
Moves: Fake Out, Frustration, Baby-Doll Eyes.  
Extra notes: This Pokemon seems to be deaf, approach with cautious.

A deaf Pokemon, that would be prefect for her team...But how would she train her? Deciding to figure that out later, she approached the Buneary - the little one was sniffing some nearby flowers on the end of a pond. Knowing she couldn't use a verbal ask, she cautiously sat down next to the young rabbit-like Pokemon. Then the young Pokemon's ruby eyes gazed up at her, interest evident in those eyes as a scrambled mess left the Pokemon's throat. "B-bun? (Hwi?)," it wasn't that the Pokemon had a stutter or was shy, but rather her deafness was effecting her ability to learn to speak in the first place.

Gently, deciding for the non-vocal route as a whole, Kat placed her hand on the Buneary's head between her two eyes - which twitched in response. There was no fear, just curiosity. Pure and simple curiosity. However, it was getting them nowhere soon with the Pokemon's inability to hear her voice.

Pulling a friendship ball from out of her bag, she showed it to Buneary in hopes that the normal type would understand what she was implying and take the offer. As for why the friendship ball, she knew that Buneary evolved when it became really close to their trainers so the ball that improved friendship gain sounded like a good idea. As the young Pokemon stared at the friendship ball, she seemed to have no reaction like she didn't understand what she was meant to do. This made Kat wonder, maybe this Buneary could read.

So she got out a piece of paper and wrote what she wanted to say. "My name is Kat, would you like to become my Pokemon," it was only a short wish that maybe this Buneary could read, it would certainly make her life easier. Showing the paper, she could see interest in those ruby orbs as they seemed to scan the words for the meaning. Maybe this Buneary could indeed read? That was quite amazing actually.

After this, the young Pokemon made a loud cry of "B-Bunwunry! (Swure!)," before tripping over when she tried to tap the poke ball to become officially Kat's. The clumsiness made Kat and Dawn laugh slightly, the Espeon smiling at the young Pokemon with respect and care for the youth that was soon to become her friend. After a moment, Buneary pulled herself up and managed to grasp hold of the friendship ball and was absorbed into it. One...two...three clicks later and the ball sparkled to show a successful capture.

This brought a happy smile to Kat's face, she had another member to her team. One that definitely would be hard to train, but she was thankful for the Buneary's ability to read words. It would certainly improve the efficiency of training the deaf Pokemon. Recalling the Pokemon from the poke ball, she smiled down at the Buneary. Said normal type cheered loudly, bouncy around and making it hard for anyone to keep an eye on her.

But, in general. Regardless of Buneary's ability to read, how would she be able to communicate this in battle. That had to be a way. Thinking about it, she knew about how humans had hearing aids. Maybe she could do something with that, but make it for a Pokemon. She didn't have a clue if they would even work for a Pokemon. "Alright, Dawn. We need to get moving," she picked up Buneary into her arms, she didn't need the deaf Pokemon getting separated as it would be hard to get her attention.

It was her third day into walking through route 202, and it never got easier to be honest. Camping on the ground was painful, she couldn't wait to get to Petalburg. She could make a rest and get her hands on a hearing aid. As they continued to walk, both Dawn and Kat were relieved to see the outskirts of Petalburg City. It was such a huge relief to finally arrive, they were mere minutes away. However, before they even got far, a voice interrupted them. "Hey, miss. Battle with me, please!"

"Me?" she couldn't help, but ask as she pointed at herself. This got a nod in response, which she smiled at when she looked at the youngster before her. He had a Rattata at his feet and Pidgey perched on his shoulder, it would be quite a simple battle so she was quick to pick her Pokemon for the battle. "Alright, Dawn. Get in there," she told the 5 year old psychic type, who began to step forward to become in between the two trainers.

"No, no," the young boy shook his head, before grinning. "I want to battle your Buneary," the face he made was quite hard to ignore. But this worried Kat, she couldn't control Buneary just yet. She had no way of communicating to the Pokemon in battle. Maybe...she had an idea and nodded her head.

"Return, Dawn," she asked, causing the psychic type to leap back to her feet and she looked down at the red eyed rabbit in her arms. She gently put the Pokemon down, which earned a loud cheer of happiness. It was clear that the jolly-little Pokemon was happy as can be. But she hoped her plan worked. She got out a piece of paper and wrote down a simple message for the young Pokemon to read. When she got a happy nod, she turned to the boy. "Alright, lets begin. I will give you the first hit."

"Alright, Rattata. Use tackle," the purple rat charged forward at moderately high speeds, but Kat had a plan to counter it. Or more...dodge. Tapping her feet quite harshly on the ground once, the vibrations ran through the ground and towards her Pokemon. The note she had read told the normal type exactly what to do, leap into the air to dodge the tackle. The young boy made a surprised gasp, having never heard the command to do that. But he quickly recovered and yelled out. "Quick Attack!"

When Buneary landed back on the ground, Kat made two taps on the ground. This told Buneary to not only jump this time, but to also use Frustration. Her ears uncoiled and glowed red as her red eyes seemed to gleam with the same emotion that the move was named after. Moments after Rattata had realized she wasn't on the ground anymore, she was pounding him with those glowing appendages with how amounts of strength that were partly because she currently had low friendship with her trainer.

Poor Rattata, it's little body could hardly handle the barrage of attacks that pounded at it. However, it was able to recover and lunged back towards its trainer with a loud yell of its name in frustration. Meanwhile, Buneary too lunged back and landed squarely on the ground with no clear damage done to her. '_So far so good,_' Kat thought as she stared at her opponent with pride in her eyes, she was proud that Buneary was fast to pick up on this plan. However, she knew it wasn't prefect. The little one needed to have direct contact with the ground for it to work, that just couldn't be the case at all times.

Three taps this time and Buneary was in the air again, this time a grin was on her face as she clapped her paws together. This made the rat Pokemon flinch, ignoring his trainer's commands to use 'tackle', and allowed the rabbit-like Pokemon to twist her body to kick the rat Pokemon away from her. It was a strong blow and nearly knocked the mouse Pokemon unconscious, but he remaining standing in an almost defeated manner.

Suddenly, a sigh left the boy's throat as he recalled his Rattata to it's poke ball as if showing that he was accepting defeat before it even occurred. He then smiled up at Kat, with maybe some envy locked there as well. "That Buneary of yours is powerful, but why weren't you making any calls during that," after saying this, that envy melted in confusion and intrigue that had built up in the youngster throughout the battle.

"Actually, I was," Kat laughed, picking up Buneary before she potentially tripped over. "You see, Buttons is deaf," she decided the nickname on the fly, unable to think of any other nickname other than that. Buttons just seemed to fit, the little one had a button-like nose for starters and she could totally see the creature wearing a buttoned jacket. Though, she didn't know why. "So I was using the vibrations of my foot tapping on the ground to inform her of what she should do, like dodge or use frustration. Unfortunately, it's not the best strategy and I need to come up with another."

"Ohh..." but then the boy's face changed into maybe disgust. Kat couldn't tell, all she knew is that she didn't take it. "Why would you even bother raising a Pokemon that cannot hear, it doesn't give you any advantage in battle..." just that line alone pissed Katherine off, she couldn't believe what she had just heard. Was this kid not hearing himself. He had basically implied that Buttons was worthless. She wasn't happy with that, who would be? Well...anybody reasonable.

"Look, kid. Buttons isn't worthless and sure, her deafness will continue to be a problem. But it's a problem that I want to overcome, I feel like you shouldn't judge any creature - just because it has a problem. That is actually wrong, and I'm heavily disappointed in you. What if your Rattata suddenly lost its ability to hear, would you throw it away - simply because it was unable to battle as it used to," with her rant over, she walked away with tears in her eyes. She honestly couldn't believe it, people could be so cruel sometimes.

Arriving in Petalburg, she headed straight to the poke mart in the city. Hoping that she could find a hearing aid in the city, with some luck she would. Walking inside, she looked up at the store clerk with a look of apathy. "Do you know where I can find a hearing aid?" she asked, almost emotionless. Earlier had taken it out of her.

"Oh, a hearing aid," the clerk was surprised to hear that, this child's hearing seemed to be fine. Correct? So why did she need one. However, he reached under the counter and handed her the hearing aid. She scanned over it for a little while, the clerk watching her intensely before asking a question. "May I ask why you need such a thing, your hearing is fine from what it seems. Is there any reason?"

After a short sigh, Kat knew she needed to modify this hearing aid. It wasn't going to work for a Pokemon, it wasn't the correct size and she wanted to maybe use a vibration ability to base on what she and Buneary had practiced earlier. However, she responded to the store clerk. "Its for my Buneary..."

He seemed surprised, but nodded and moved on to the next customer whilst Kat left the mart with that same apathetic look in her eyes. Holding the hearing aid with her spare hand, she managed to pry open the internal mechanism and looked closely at it. After a few bits of fiddling, she knew what could do. She could make a internal switch that would only activate when she clicked a button on a remote. Then she could teach Buttons different signals for the vibrations her ears would receive.

When she arrived back on the poke center and sighed in, she sat down at one of the nearby tables and got to work. Maybe she didn't look like it, but she was quite alright with gadgetry. Not perfect by any standards, but she was able to make the functioning she had wanted. Soon enough, when she pressed a button on a small remote - the hearing aid began to vibrate for a second before stopping. It was perfect. Clipping it to Buneary's ear wasn't as easy, but the clip eventually snapped into place. It seemed to cause a little pain, but Buttons soon adjusted and was back to her jolly self in no time.

Alright, now to teach her how to work with this. Getting out some paper, she wrote down that 1 vibration meant to dodge. She needed the dodge to be quicker than attack, since she needed Buttons to response immediately. Then 2 vibrations were to turn around, which would be linked to a physical action of Kat holding a note card with Buttons' moved listed on it. It sounded like a prefect plan. Whether it would work. Honestly, that was still up for debate.

Yawning, she decided to wait until the morning to try out. She was tired and when she looked down at her lap again, Buttons was asleep on her lap. The little rabbit had herself curled up, gently snoring away the minutes. Picking up the normal type, she carried her over to the spare bed where Dawn and Kibbles were already napping. Placing her down next to Dawn, she saw the psychic type's tail move slightly to wrap around both of the young Pokemon.

After a short smile, Kat laid down on her own bed and closed her eyes. Today had been mildly eventful and tomorrow would only be harder, Buttons' training would begin and that was only the start of it. In that second, she decided to spend a few days here in Petalburg as the idea of carrying on without knowing Buttons understood kinda scared her. But her thoughts were stopped dead, as she finally slipped into dream land.

A new Pokemon and a new goal in training, her journey was progressing well in her own opinion as she slept soundly. It seemed almost too good to be true.


	4. Training - Chapter 3

Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to try to train the deaf Pokemon so quickly, but that wasn't going to stop Kat at all. She was determined to allow Buttons to take part in the gym battle against the rock gym leader Roxanne. Thus, the group had headed down into route 4 to train in the meadows that surrounded Petalburg. They had decided against wild Pokemon, preferring to have mock battles between the group.

But before the mock battles could even begin, she needed to get the idea of using the hearing aid through the rabbit Pokemon's head. And that...wasn't going so well. Being as jolly as Buttons was, she was bouncing around and playing like any young Pokemon would. She adored playing with Kibbles every minute of the day. "B-bwun b-bwun! (J-wumpy j-wumpy!)," she cried out as she bounced out of Kat's grip once again.

"...How am I going to get this to work..." the young girl sighed, as Dawn seemed to join her in that emotion. To be able to face Roxanne, she needed Buttons to know a fighting type move as currently the little normal type only knew moves of her typing. A typing that was resisted by the rock types that the gym leader used. And Kat had come up with the idea, after researching from her pokedex the moves Buttons could learn - that she should try to teach the rabbit the move 'Drain Punch'. Surely it wouldn't be hard...

Yeah, she had been wrong about that as she sighed - looking at the overexcited normal type before her. Eventually, she stamped the ground hard. The vibrations rolled through the ground and to where Buttons was standing, that made the little brown Pokemon to stop and look up at Kat with fright in her eyes. Maybe she had finally clicked? "Alright, lets see..." she wrote down a note and handed it to the rabbit. God, she was thankful for the Buneary's ability to read sometimes. Before training the new move, she honestly needed to check that the ear piece's vibration ability was working.

After receiving a cute little nod from the Pokemon, Kat smiled back at the young Pokemon before telling Dawn to head about 10 meters away so that they would have a mock battle arena type location for the mock battles. Holding her clicker, she yelled over to Dawn. "You know what your doing, so I'm not going to command you if that's alright. All my focus must go on Buttons, so I can't focus on commanding you as well."

"Espy (Okay)," the psychic type came the gentle cry and nod of the head, prepping herself for the battle. Off to the side lines, Kibbles was watching intently. Both him and Kat had agreed that his turn would come afterwards, he had less problems to deal with and making sure Buttons would actually respond to commands had to come first for the dire situations that the group may find themselves in.

After yelling begin, Kat began her charge by clicking the button she had made twice. This sent little vibrations to Buttons' ear piece, causing her to react immediately and turn to her trainer. It was for the briefest of seconds, just to show a piece of card with the word 'Frustration' on it. Just a simple, two-second command. Moments later, Dawn was in the air as the frustration move was building up. Twisting her body, Dawn's tail flashed briefly before thousands of stars spilled out from the tail.

Noticing this, Buttons seemed to smile as if controlling her own decision - which both she and Kat knew she would have to do. Unique strategies were all up to her, as communicating such of a fly would be so hard. Using the pent-up frustration, her ears flung out and slapped the most worrying of the stars away from her body and heavily reducing the damage done to her. Afterwards, an almost evil smirk appeared on the rabbit's face as she leaped upwards with the force of a single powerful jump and slammed those appendages into the psychic cat's body with little remorse. However, the power of the frustration was lesser than it had been the day before - the result of beginning to befriend her trainer. Thus it would have never been enough to cause Dawn to faint as she was capable of blocking most attacks or reducing damage.

Upon noticing this, Kat quickly clicked the button just once. This once was to dodge, as Dawn quickly swished her tail around as a quick move as stars charged out and cut a nearby tree almost in half. The remaining stars, Dawn swiftly moved in the air and slapped with her tail. Right in the direction that the normal type had dodged to. The Swift attack slammed straight into Buttons' back, causing sharp pain and knocked the young Pokemon forward a few spaces. Panting, the normal type got up and frustration could be seen in her ruby orbs.

Clicking twice once more, Kat hold up the sign for Fake Out. This earned a quick nod and movement from the frustrated normal type, lunging forward with her paws out-stretched as Dawn re-landed back on the ground. Just before she made it to Dawn, she grinned and clapped her paws together. The sound alone was enough to unnerve the psychic type, who was still readjusting to the ground again, and caused her to flinch with no strategy available without potentially using her near useless psychic powers. But in that moment, she couldn't think and that gave Buttons the opportunity she needed.

One swift moment later and her powerful feet were in Dawn's chest, knocking her back quite a few meters and into the same tree that the swift had hit from before. The shock and pain of hitting the tree proved to be Dawn's undoing and she collapsed almost straight away, laying on the ground with bruises all over. But there was a smile on her face that appeared mere seconds before she fainted. She had done her job and now she could get a great rest, so she was truly happy in that moment.

Taking a sharp breathe, Kat ran over to the fallen friend and smiled down at her before bringing her back into her poke ball in that second. "I'm so, it wasn't supposed to go that far. I weren't intending to knock you out, Dawn. But you did great and I couldn't ask for more," there was a smile on the girl's face as she held the poke ball close to her chest. Seconds later, she was joined by Buttons and Kibbles. The former had a few bruises on her back from where the swift attack had hit her. "Lets head back into Petalburg, I'll heal you up at the poke center and then we can get back to trainer," she whispered, after writing the same down on a piece of paper for Buttons to see.

Walking back to town, the group dodged the tall grass areas - knowing to avoid the wild Pokemon as much of possible. Though they did see some Taillow and Marill hanging around in the area, neither seemed to bother them. Once they arrived back at the poke center, it was a simple and quick heal - barely taking them 5 minutes. But Kat made sure to inform Nurse Joy that she would be back later on. All she got in return was a "Training hard I suppose, miss Katherine?"

"Yeah, you know. It's what you do with Pokemon, ain't it?" there was a hearty laugh there, but inside Kat knew it wasn't a joke. Raising these Pokemon like she had tasked herself with, it was never going to be easy and shouldn't be treated as a joke. But she'd rather try to hide the fact that she was stressed from the public, it certainly wouldn't help if people thought she was stressed 'cause she was weak and unable to actually do her task. When such wasn't accurate or true at all. After a short sigh, she left the building - it was stressful to be inside that crowded location for more than a few minutes during the day time. At night, it was a bit better as they were usually asleep. But yeah...

Arriving back in the meadow, she released Dawn and briefed everyone on what she had learnt. Whilst she spoke, she made sure to keep a quite note for Buttons - who's hearing aid didn't pick up sounds, even though it had been modified from a proper hearing aid. "Alright, so we now know that Buttons can follow basic instructions with the clicker and formulate her own strategies on the fly if needed. Next...is teaching you two," she looked at Kibbles and Buttons as she spoke this. "New moves."

Looking through her notes, she continued her line. "Alright, Drain Punch for Buttons and Icy Wind for Kibbles," she turned to Dawn for a second, knowing she would need more moves to counteract her issue with her psychic moves. "I should teach you a move as well, but lets focus on Buttons and Kibbles for now," this earnt her a nod from the psychic cat, the expression of the Espeon clearly saying 'it's fine'.

"Now...lets start with you, Kibbles," she smiled down at the Mudkip, before wondering how she was supposed to teach the axolotl the move. Honestly, picturing the move was hard enough - without trying to figure out how to describe it. "Do you think you can maybe picture some ice in your move and breathe it out," Kibbles nodded in response and closed his pink eyes for a few moments before opening his mouth. A icy glow appeared from within, maybe this would be simple. But as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared again. "Alright...we need more focus..."

With more focus this time, Kibbles focused hard with the peaceful mind that he processed. After a few seconds, he opened his mouth again and once more that icy glow appeared and this time he took a deep breathe and released that ice. It wasn't strong by any means, merely a breeze it felt. But they were getting somewhere. "Alright, you keep practicing that and I'll start work with Buttons. Alright, boy."

After saying this, Kat moved over to Buttons and knelt down. "Lets see, how to work this out. Alright," she grabbed her paper and wrote down to copy her. After doing this, she moved her arm in the focus of a punch. Buttons didn't use her paws, but rather uncoiled her ears and punched with them instead. There was a lot of strength of those appendages and that was obvious to any view. After doing this a few times, she wrote to try and add...some like drainage to them. She then pointed over to Dawn. After seeing this, Buttons moved quickly with the punching move and for a moment - those ears of hers glowed. But the glow faded just like the icy wind practice.

However, there was no giving up. The moment Buttons saw the missing emerald glow, she stopped and keep focusing until it reappeared. And eventually it did its job and she slammed her ears into Dawn, energy being ripped from the psychic type's body in the process. Not enough to knock the cat out, since it was resisted. But still. At this accomplishment, excitement rose in those ruby orbs of Buttons as she jumped up and down with that same emotion evident in each bunny hop.

Soon enough, the group also realized that Kibbles was now also capable of his new move when the cold suddenly picked up and there was snow coming down around them after a massive brush of energy. Congratulating her friend, Kat picked up the little Axolotl and smiled. "Lets see, we might as well test out these new moves. Want to battle Buttons, Kibbles?" a little nod was her answer, which allowed her to also tell Buttons about it. "Alright, Kibbles. You control yourself and figure out your own steps, just think about what Dawn was doing."

"Alright, lets begin!" she called, clicking the button quickly twice in a row. Seconds later, Buttons leaped into the air and twisted herself to see the move that Katherine wanted. Fake Out. Simple enough for a starting move, she lunged downwards with twice of speed that she used to leap upwards and prepared to do her usual clapping motions followed by a twisted kick to the body. However, it didn't work this time as Kibbles grinned and used Water Gun just before the clap occurred and thus preventing the flinch. He had figured that she left herself totally exposed during the lunge down and thus that would give him chance.

"Smart Axolotl," observed Kat, but she smiled in response. Clicking twice again, this time she put up the card for Drain Punch. Now was the time, when Buttons saw it - she was in a very close range. The perfect chance. With a hop and a step, she lunged behind Kibbles before he had a chance to react and punched at his back to recover the health that he had taken with the water gun. A perfect strategy that was unfortunately flawless from the range.

However, the battle was far from over. When Buttons tumbled into a roll, to get back into a neutral position - despite being injured, Kibbles took his chance and blasted his new Icy Wind straight at his target's roll and froze her feet just as the roll ended. You didn't need to be able to understand Buttons to know she was frustrated by her inability to stay straight on the ground and this worried Kat quite a bit. She needed a quick solution.

Then it came to her, with a quite double-click after writing something down. Upon seeing the note, Buttons smiled as she leaped into the air and did a triple roll. The heat built up thawed out the ice and caused the rabbit to smile as Kat changed the note, which the normal type saw as she did the roll. With a sharp dive, she built up frustration as she lunged downwards. But before the same water gun trick could be used, she dived out of the way of the water and charged around the back and began slam after slam of her ears.

There was no chance to dodge, and with a quick move; Buttons decided to try something and powered up her draining ability and absorbed the last of the Kibbles' health as she slammed her last hit. After that, she lunged back as Kibbles collapsed to the ground after a short breathe of air left his mouth. "Whoa..." Kat muttered as she looked over at the two Pokemon, Dawn seemed to share in her thoughts based on the shocked expression. Rushing over, she picked up Kibbles and returned him to his poke ball. Putting up a piece of paper. "That was a good battle, Buttons," she smiled, returning the rabbit Pokemon to her luxury ball as well.

"Alright, Dawn. Lets head back to the poke center," she glanced up at the skies, which was now a mixture of yellows, oranges and reds all danced together in a beautiful mess. "It's getting late anyway and we got more training tomorrow to do," at her feet, the purple Pokemon nodded her head which caused her moon-stone necklace to shake gently as she walked. It glimmered in the last lights of daylight.

Arriving back at the poke center, Katherine handed over her injured Pokemon to Nurse Joy and went over to the phone booth. She wanted to make a call to her mother, having forgotten the previous day. After connecting to her mother's number, she was soon bombarded by a loud array of noise. "Where were you, I thought you'd would have been there already. I've been so worried about you!"

"Sorry, mother..." the young autistic trainer muttered, almost emotionlessly. In that instant, she had decided she didn't want to be there - but she knew that turning the phone off would be just plain cruel. "Yesterday was a lot of hassle and I kinda just forgot alright, but I made it here safely and even acquired a new Pokemon along the way," she then heard her name called. "One second, I'll be right back..."

Upon collecting the two poke balls, she released both Buttons and Kibbles for the world to see with no worries. She placed Buttons on the stand for her mother to see, the young deaf Pokemon sniffed at the machine with pure curiosity in her eyes. For the briefest of seconds, Kat could see her mother glancing over her Pokemon to see what the disability was. "What's wrong with her, Katherine?"

Sighing, Kat indicated to the hearing aid that was still attach to the normal type's ear. "Well, she's deaf in simple terms. But she's excellent in battle, so I've been training her to take commands using this little gadget that releases vibra-" she was cut off by a worried question from her mother. One that made her eyes widen in some sense of shock, but the main emotion she felt deep inside was disgust.

"If I told you that one of my friends was giving up a disabled Pokemon 'cause it couldn't help her in battle, would you take it?"

* * *

Thanks for all the comments I've received, I'm glad people are enjoying this concept as much as I am enjoying writing it. This story is quite close to my heart, the main protagonist shares a condition that I suffer with day and day in the real world; autism isn't fun. And I fully intend to write how I fully experience my condition through Katherine's eyes. As for her Pokemon, hand-picked with conditions that I felt suited them. And some of them, like Buttons, are Pokemon close to me due to previous experience. Buttons being named after my deceased rabbit and such.

But enough talk, thanks for enjoying and please continue too.


	5. Ripped - Chapter 4

Honestly, as she stepped to the trade machine, Kat had no clue what she was getting sent to her from all the way from Unova. All she knew was that the Pokemon was disabled and its trainer didn't want it anymore, so her mom asked her to take it in so that it wouldn't be killed in the wild where it would have a low survival chance in its new condition. Unlike Buttons, this new Pokemon's condition wasn't something genetic - but rather inflicted onto the Pokemon that was incurable.

After a few seconds of nervous anticipation, the poke ball came through - it was a pink and white poke ball with a massive heart on the pink section. A love ball, this Pokemon must have been loved before the accident. To think, the trainer was willing to betray and leave this poor Pokemon just because it couldn't battle as well anymore. It disgusted her, as she picked up the love ball and released the Pokemon within. After a near blinding pink light, the Pokemon was revealed to be an Emolga with shiny blue eyes.

Now, the problem was evident the second the Emolga shuffled a little as it looked around its surroundings with terror and worry evident in those sapphire orbs. A few rips straight through one of the wing-like flaps below its arms, those rips were harsh and evidently from a Pokemon's claw-like attack to the wings that ripped straight through without mercy. It would definitely effect this Pokemon's capable to glide around.

Soon enough, the electric flying squirrel looked up at Katherine. However, Kat expected it to back away, instead the Sky Squirrel held a firm stance and was clearly trying to hide its fear and anticipate anymore attacks. Poor thing. Kat knelt down and reached over to pet the electric type between its ears, in an attempt to calm it down. Surprisingly, it did the job and after a short breathe - the young Pokemon seemed more relaxed and looked up at Kat with fear and worry in those eyes. "Emolga emol...(Where is everyone...)," it didn't take a genius to know that this poor thing was missing its friends and trainer, confused and alone.

"Sweetie, do you know what happened to you," Kat asked, wondering for a moment if she'd be able to even translate the Emolga's speech patterns. But she did know that she needed to earn this Pokemon's trust to be able to train her for future battles, since that training would be hard without any trust or bond between the two. As she continued to pet the Pokemon's head, she heard a pained cry for the poor thing - who grabbed onto Kat's leg and wailed in a mess of confusion, upset and pain. It was evident that the wing injury was recent, the cuts were still red and a bit bloody as if they hadn't been treated properly. That was a priority.

"Miss Katherine," Nurse Joy ran over to the pair, seeing the crying Emolga that was holding onto the autistic girl's leg. "I heard that cry and was worried, mind if I see your Emolga to heal its wounds if it has any," there was so much concern in the nurse's eyes as she looked over the electric/flying type's condition and noticing the mangled wing - despair filled the nurse's eyes, Katherine noted, as if she knew in that moment that there was no curing this. "Poor thing, where did you get it..."

Knowing to be honest at all times, Kat simply replied with the upmost truth. "Guess you could call it a trade, but rather my mom sent me this Emolga that her friend abandoned for the injury to its wing. Mom sent me it since she knows my affinity with disabled Pokemon," at that cue, she released the other Pokemon on her. For a moment, Emolga's puffy and red eyes glanced in the direction of the three disabled Pokemon and took them in. The dimmed gem on the Espeon, the ripped tail fin and overly small head fin of the Mudkip and the ear-piece attached to the Buneary. All of them were like it...ruined, yet this trainer seemed to have never abandoned them. Could it be like them, not abandoned again?

"Well, I'll do what I can to prevent the bleeding - can't risk it losing too much blood," at this, the nurse took Emolga's love ball from Kat and returned the poor dear to the Pokemon. "I won't be too long, all I'm gonna do is cauterize the wounds," it was sad that the wounds couldn't be healed, that was nothing you could do to ever improve the Emolga's capability to fly ever again. Even the healing machines couldn't work miracles.

Resting against the wall, Kat thought about her new situation. She wasn't even at Rustboro yet and she had 4 Pokemon, all with their own needs. Could she managed this? Shaking that thought of her head, she slapped her cheeks and smiled down at the three Pokemon nearby and said. "Looks like we have a new friend, so more training needs to be done before we can leave for Rustboro and I need to figure out a battle plan for it still..." honestly, thinking about it - she didn't like calling the Emolga an 'it' but she wasn't aware of its gender just yet.

When Nurse Joy came over, she had a sadden smile on her face. "Well, I cauterized the wounds and now they're not bleeding - however Emolga will be drowsy for a while until the pain medication wears off. So I'd recommend no more training today or even tomorrow, you understand right?" she handed the love ball back as she waited for confirmation from the young trainer.

"Affirmative," Kat nodded, she didn't plan to train anymore tonight anyway and tomorrow would be fine. She'd just spend the day mapping out plans and maybe tinkering with Buttons' ear piece to improve the efficiency of the idea. Holding the love ball, she released the young Pokemon from within. Just like Nurse Joy had said, it was drowsy and barely able to stand straight as its blurred vision directed itself at Kat. She stumbled, before coming to rest on Kat's leg again. Smiling, Kat pulled out her poke dex and scanned the young Pokemon.

Name: Emolga  
Registered nickname: Glimmer  
Age: 4  
Gender: Female  
Ability: Motor Drive  
Moves: Air Slash, Shock Wave, Roost and Double Team.

As the extra notes didn't appear, Kat knew that it was because the injures to the Pokemon weren't a hereditary thing. As for the moves, it brought a smile to her face - this Pokemon had clearly formerly been trained as these moves weren't the average starting set. So training her wouldn't be as required yet - but she fully intended to use the young Pokemon for Brawly when she made it to the island. Glancing back over, she took note of the nickname and whispered it out to test it. "Glimmer..."

Even drowsy, the electric type glanced up with those droopy sapphire orbs in response to her name and whimpered a little. "Emol..." it had never correlating meaning, just a sad whimper of the remembrance of her former trainer. Gently, Kat petted Glimmer's head once again and watched as the drowsy Pokemon went to sleep on her lap in response to the calming movements that her head received.

Picking Glimmer up, the autistic girl smiled down and bid Nurse Joy a good night before heading to her room. Placing Glimmer down on the spare bed, she watched as Dawn leaped onto the bed with silent feet to curl up around the young Pokemon. Kibbles and Buttons soon joined, Kibbles curling behind Dawn and Buttons around Dawn's tail - which Dawn responded by wrapping her tail around the young deaf Pokemon.

Sitting down at the desk, Kat began to draw plans for her usage of Glimmer. In order to use Air Slash, you needed to be up high to use those wings to slash through the opponent on the way down to flinch them like the move intended. However, the move was beneficial as it never technically made contact as the energy from the expanded wings was what made contact. Now, how to put Glimmer into the air. Then she came up with what she thought was smart, use her own head. If Glimmer could be fast, she could jump onto her head and use it was a platform for the aerial descent required. At least, she thought it was smart. Once Glimmer was given the okay to battle, she fully intended to practice this trick in order to use Air Slash.

Getting up, she walked over and unclipped Buttons' hearing aid and began to tinker with it to improve the time it would take between her pressing the button and it releasing the vibration into Buttons' ear. After testing it again, there was mere seconds between the two events and that was far more reliable in gym battles. For one, she couldn't risk the vibrations being felt too late or the move wouldn't be executed in time.

All this time, she didn't realize that it had long gone midnight before she was done. So she got up, reclipped the hearing aid and laid down on her bed. However...she was barely allowed to sleep for a few minutes before a loud wail of agony, pain and despair filled her ears and she opened to eyes to see the wailing was coming from the shaky and thrashing Glimmer, who was being looked at with worried eyes from all three Pokemon near her. "Glimmer!" Kat yelled as she ran over to the Pokemon and tried to get her to wake up.

What was happening. Why was this happening. Night terrors, that wasn't something she was used to and she certainly wasn't expecting a violent shock to run through her body when Glimmer unconsciously trigger her Shock Wave. The likelihood was that she was dreaming about the event that caused her wing injury and the Shock Wave attack was what she had used in attempt to defend herself. "Glimmer, come on. Wake up," she yelped, ignoring the pain that coursed through her body from the electricity as she shook the small Pokemon rapidly.

Eventually, those fear-filled sapphire orbs opened and Glimmer attached herself to Kat with a wail of, "Emol! (Kat!)," and a sob mixed in. Terrified was an understatement, and it was only made worse when Nurse Joy walked in with a solemn smile. She didn't need to say a word for Kat to be worried that she was going to kick them out for being too loud, even though there was clear reason for the Pokemon in her arm's terror.

"Y-you're not going to k-kick us out, are you?" came the stuttered whisper, normally she didn't stutter - but the fear of being thrown out for Glimmer's PSTD was intense and pissed her off to say the least.

"No, that's not the case," the nurse said, walking over to check on the crying Pokemon. "I heard the wailing and crying, so I came to see what was going on," she sighed, watching Kat stroking Glimmer's head in a near futile attempt to calm her down. It was doing something, but really slowly and it wasn't helpful in the situation. "Poor thing, maybe she had a flashback of the events that injured her."

"T-that's what I thought," Kat muttered, trying to lay Glimmer back down on the bed - but the Pokemon was stubborn and clung to her like a crying baby. Deciding against it, she continued stroking the traumatized Pokemon. "What can I do, her wails will wake up the other trainers in the building."

Nurse Joy smiled at this, coming up with a solution straight away. "We could always create a sound-block around your room whilst your staying. Since the healing rooms often contain Pokemon that cry in pain infrequently, the building is equip to produce these on command and that includes for the guest rooms as we know that cases like these can occur. Don't worry, when you head to Rustboro - I'll be sure to inform the other Nurse Joys so that do the same for your Pokemon."

"Thank you," Kat whispered, watching as Nurse Joy enabled the sound-proof system with a hidden button in the wall. But she knew that the sound proofing wouldn't help with her other three Pokemon, so she continued to stroke Glimmer and whisper. "Don't worry, I'm here...you're safe now..." after a short time, Glimmer's wails finally calmed to infrequent whimpers and the other three Pokemon went back to sleep. "Shh, it's alright," she carried Glimmer back to her own bed and held her close - she decided it'd be best for her to sleep next to the electric type to potentially keep her calm from now on.

After a few minutes, she finally saw Glimmer's sleepy eyes close as she whimper out another meaningless whimper of her name before a gently snooze left her nose to indicate her sleeping state. Smiling, Kat fell back to sleep as well. It had been a long night, one with the nightmarish prospect of dealing with a traumatized Pokemon with potential PTSD. However, she'd manage...

Hopefully.


	6. Gym Time - Chapter 5

It was a week later when the group finally arrived in Rustboro City, after Katherine was finally happy with the quality of the team. As she walked into the city, Dawn was at her feet and Glimmer was sat on her head. There was nervousness in the latter Pokemon's eyes, but she seemed to be hiding it pretty well. As for why she was sat on her trainer's head, she found it pretty comfortable during training and felt emotionally comfortable up there as well. It seemed safer than being on the ground.

Speaking about the emotional state of Glimmer, Kat had asked her mother about it and got an answer for what the accident actually was. Apparently Glimmer's former trainer, a Unovaian, was out catching Pokemon with Glimmer by her side. However, Glimmer had gotten distracted by some flowers - something that the young Pokemon adored - and got lost. Completely separated from her trainer.

Apparently, when the trainer finally found Glimmer, she was unconscious with blood-soaked wing flaps and a Zangoose over her with claws that were stained with the same blood that had left the poor electric/flying type's body. To think, it was an entire accident and Glimmer's trainer chose to abandon her. Simple because it was revealed that the injury had resulted in terrible rips that would never heal properly to allow the 4 year old Pokemon to fly ever again.

However, during the near week stay at the Petalburg center, Glimmer received a star-shaped locket that could release a type of aroma that would force her to wake up if a nightmare was detected. It worked on the basis of the move worry seed. Temporarily changing Glimmer's motor drive ability into insomnia to wake her up. The change had been timed to reveal it would only last for half-an-hour, which would give Kat plenty of time to calm the usually distressed Pokemon down.

"Bwun bwun! (Hwere hwere!)," came the unexpected cry of Buttons in her typical barely understandable speech - even for the other Pokemon - as she bounced around with little care that she couldn't hear the inhabitants as they expressed their surprise at seeing the Sinnoh Pokemon in Hoenn since Buneary wasn't a common Pokemon within the region. Then when they saw Emolga, it was quite shocking as the flying squirrel was never seen within the region unless the trainer was Unovan, Kalosian or Alolan born.

Moving quickly, Kat grabbed hold of Buttons and looked around nervously - an action that was copied by the Pokemon currently sat on her head. Sighing, she whispered. "We're here to battle, nothing more..." she knew that the normal type was incapable of hearing her, but she said it anyway - mainly for the three Pokemon capable of hearing her.

Speaking on the gym, where even was it? She honestly had no clue as she wondered through the place with the Buneary now in her arms. Eventually, she saw a large sign that said Rustboro gym. And wasn't the only one to read it, as Buttons let out a loud and kinda screechy cry of happiness. If there was one thing she wasn't happy about with raising the normal type, it would definitely be the problems with Buttons' vocal range as she wasn't able to hear herself talk.

Glad that she knew where it was, she walked back towards the Pokemon center to heal up any damage taken during the trip through the forest. A few wild Pokemon had definitely attempted to hurt them, freaking Glimmer out - even though she sent a powerful shock wave that knocked out a lot of the Pokemon that were attacking them. After this, Glimmer showed a bit more confidence. However, it didn't take a genius to work out that most of that confidence was just a facade to hide the insecurities and fears. Likely to make Kat not worry as often.

Running back towards the gym, Kat had a confident smile on her face as she stood outside of the gym's doors. Pushing the door open, she smiled and let out a large yell. "Is the gym leader in?" her voice was prepared and so was her Pokemon, both Buttons and Kibbles looked excited too as it was their first major battle outside of small trainer battles that they had occasionally taken part in. Dawn seemed to be happy, however she knew that her job was to look at Glimmer.

"Right here," the gym leader walked over, her unique hairstyle bouncing around behind her as she came to a stop before Kat and the Pokemon. "Are you here to challenge the Rustboro gym for the badge? If so, mind telling me your name?"

"Yes, I am..." Kat nodded, smiling down at her Pokemon as Glimmer gave a tough pose from on her head - however, fear was still evident in her eyes. After saying this, the blonde girl took a breathe before another smile broke on her face - full of confidence - as she said her name. "And my name is Katherine from the outskirts of Oldale."

The response was a smile from the gym leader and a nod of the head. "Alright then, I accept your challenge. But know this, I will not go easy on you," as she stepped over the rocky field that was used as the battle field and looked confident like a gym leader should have. "Are you ready for the gym battle, or do you need any final preparations. I am willing to wait if that is the-"

She was cut off as Kat shook her head and said. "No need, me and my team are ready for your challenge!" she smiled brightly, before nodding to the referee at the edge of the rocky field to show her confidence. Returning both Kibbles and Buttons to their poke balls, she intended to keep their usage a surprise. Whilst Dawn took Glimmer up, carrying her on her back, the nearby stairs to the stands to watch the match.

"The match between gym leader Roxanne and challenger Katherine will begin as soon as the trainers release their first Pokemon. This is a 2 versus 2 battle, and only the challenger is allowed to substitute Pokemon. However moves like Volt Switch or U-turn are allowed," even though in this situation, Katherine knew that those 2 moves were very unlikely for a rock type trainer to utilize.

"Alright, Geodude. Come on out!" came the cry from Roxanne as she tossed her poke ball and with a red flash, the rock type Pokemon emerged from the poke ball after the glow faded. After a moment, the Pokemon flexed her muscles. Katherine had studied Roxanne's Pokemon before through the index on her pokedex and already was well aware that both of her Pokemon were female.

"Alright, so Geodude..." she whispered, smiling as she chose her Pokemon. She wanted to leave a surprise for later, so she released Kibbles first with that bright flash that showed the happy-go-lucky Pokemon in moments. However, he was calm and just smiling brightly. "Alright, Kibbles. Use Water Gun!"

The blast of water rocketed from Kibbles' mouth, however the smile on Roxanne's face unnerved Kat in that second she saw it. "Use Rock Tomb to surround you!" before Kat could tell Kibbles to move, a rock tomb emerged around Geodude to protect her from the water gun. That same Rock Tomb was moved with a punch from the rock type Pokemon and blasted straight at Kibbles - who barely dodged it. But one of his feet was hit by the rock and the pain was evident in the Pokemon's eyes, as he landed back on the ground.

However, he pulled himself back to his feet with a small grimace on his face. Sweat emerged on Kat's face, this wasn't going to be easy with that rock tomb acting as a protection. Moments before she was able to react though, Roxanne grinned and yelled out. "Rock Throw!" the Geodude grabbed one of the many loose rocks on the field and threw it towards the Mudkip, who's terrified eyes changed into some calm as he reached up with his front-feet and began to glow. Seconds later, in the place of the Mudkip was a Marshtomp, who's massive hands broke the rock in half.

"Tomp! (Yeah!)," he gave a short grin, but went back down to his calm sense. Meanwhile, Kat's eyes were wide in shock. She barely had time to react though as more rocks were hurled at her newly evolved Pokemon. Making the command quickly, Kibbles smiled and dodged out of the way before using a new move. He kicked up the dirt and it slammed straight into Geodude, knocking her backwards in shock. The added dirt to her coat slowed her down, making her movements less of a threat.

"Mud Shot," Kat whispered as she finally snapped back into reality. After a deep breathe, she yelled out her next command. "Water Gun, quickly whilst she's unable to move!" Roxanne was shocked in that moment, since she was surprised like Kat to the sudden evolution and the new move. The move was enough to finally put Geodude down, out of commission for the rest of the battle as she collapsed to the ground unconscious.

The referee noticed this and moved his flag in Kat's direction. "Geodude is unable to battle. Marshtomp and Katherine are the winner on this round. Gym leader, please release your final Pokemon for the challenger to battle."

Like Kat before, Roxanne snapped back into reality and recalled Geodude to her poke ball. "Have a good rest, Geodude..." she smiled, before releasing her next Pokemon. "Go, Nosepass!" she yelled, as the massive nose-shaped rock appeared. The compass Pokemon had no expression, since she had no lips. However, you could tell that she was intent and serious. More so than Kibbles was.

However, Kibbles was returned to his poke ball. This was because, as Kat explained it. "It'd be too easy to use an evolved Pokemon for a first-stage Pokemon, so I want to use my other Pokemon for this battle. Plus, I promised her that she'd have a chance. Go Buttons!" Picking up the luxury ball, she threw it. As Buttons emerged, bright yellow glow and stars appeared around her as she danced around happily. "Alright, lets begin!"

Holding the clicker firmly, she watched Roxanne with full intent. She grabbed her notes and made sure to prepared herself for the needed clicking. After a deep breathe, she clicked twice as Buttons dodged Nosepass using Rock Throw with a powerful jump into the air. Twisting around, she looked at the card for a breathe second before taking a deep breathe and blowing ice everywhere. The Icy Wind was sharp, slowing down the Nosepass as it froze around her legs.

"Nosepass!" Roxanne gasped, noticing the frozen legs. However, there was confusion in there too. "Katherine, you never made a call there. How did your Buneary now what move to use in that situation."

"Simple," with a smile, Kat held up the clicker and then pointed at Buttons' ear. "She's unable to hear, so I use this clicker and some cards to communicate the plans to her. However, its up to her if a plan is needed to be formed on the fly."

"Well, nice to see that your Pokemon is pretty impressive even with its lacking condition. However, you will not win by using a Pokemon with that condition," Roxanne was referring to the reaction times that Katherine was worried about, the clicker was still slow even with the time span being much closer now. "Use Rock Tomb!"

A cage of rocks emerged around Buttons, shocking the Pokemon as she wasn't able to hear the command yelled. However, there was a smile on her face mere moments before she became trapped in the rock tomb. Seconds later, the rocks blasted everywhere and you could see Buttons glowing ears. She must have used Drain Punch, Katherine realized in that moment as a bright smile emerged on her face. "Alright!" she cheered, only to become surprised when Buttons seemed to realize what she was doing and danced happily.

Despite the surprise in her eyes, Roxanne's determined nature never faded as she yelled. "Rock Throw," she yelled out as Nosepass did her job straight away. However, Buttons had a trick up her own sleeve as she blasted another Icy Wind. During the attack, the rocks was blasted back towards Nosepass with a icy coating and exploded on contact. However...at the same time, Buttons' ears froze in the process due to the high-up range of the attack.

This worried Katherine, would the clicker be able to get through to the air piece. However, Buttons had done well without commands as she realized. She was a very energetic and quite smart Pokemon, who came up with plans well. However, something intrigued her about those frozen ears. Maybe Buttons could use them. Checking the clicker, she was surprised by Buttons turned to look at her as she held up a card saying a two-part phrase. 'Ice Punch'.

To say Buttons' eyes widen would be an understatement, however a smile rose straight away as she powered up a Drain Punch and slammed into Nosepass with her frozen ears. The move as a result had the same effect as Ice Punch would have and produced another freeze. However, it still did the job of Drain Punch and healed up Buttons from the damage she had taken from Rock Tomb.

However, Nosepass wasn't down for the count just yet as Roxanne yelled out another command. "Discharge," that shocked both Buttons and Katherine in that moment, neither of them were aware that Nosepass was capable of using Discharge and the electricity burst around the area and shocked Buttons - who began to twitch and electricity bounced off her body. She was paralyzed.

Now, the best idea would be to switch into Kibbles - Kat knew that. However, she smiled and clicked the clicker twice in rapid motion. Buttons leaped into the air, dodging another rock thrown at her. This was pathetic, the Pokemon thought as she let out a small and raspy "Bwun (Pathetic)," she mumbled as she turned to see the card. With a dive, she powered up her ears and use a final Drain Punch on Nosepass. That was it, the damage had stacked out and Nosepass collapsed.

"Nosepass is unable to battle, Buneary and Katherine are the winners," the referee said, as Roxanne sighed and returned Nosepass to her poke ball. She pulled out the badge from her pocket and walked over the field towards Katherine.

Dropping it into the blonde's hand, she smiled. "You earned it, that Buneary of yours is pretty powerful. I wasn't expecting you to use Ice Punch since it isn't a move typically learnt by Buneary, unless you bred the move onto them."

"I guess, but I just noticed her ears and thought it would be a smart idea," Katherine stated as she held the badge for a moment - the Stone Badge - before putting it into her badge case. The first gym badge was hers. "Thank you for that battle and for testing Buttons' ability to think about her own moves."

"Your welcome."


	7. Out at Sea - Chapter 6

Alright, how was the group going to manage making it all the way to the 2nd gym of Hoenn anyway. It was across the bloody sea! Looking over at Kibbles, Kat didn't admire her chances of staying afloat if she taught him to surf. So...how. Maybe she could make a raft and have Kibbles pull it along. It could work, she guessed. So she asked around for some wood and rope, which thankfully the poke center had rope for her to borrow and an axe to cut down some logs from the forest. Then she headed back onto route 4 and crafted the boat with the help of her team.

"Kibbles, tightened the logs closer together. Wouldn't want the water to steep through," she commented, the water type Pokemon nodded his head as he pulled the logs closer together with his newfound strength in his larger form. "That's good enough, Dawn," she commented to the psychic type, who had been struggling - but managing - to levitate the logs over as Buttons bounced behind her - holding the axe between her ears. Surprisingly, the Pokemon had excellent grip with those appendages and she was at no risk of being hurt. The last member of the group, Glimmer, was slices pieces of rope with her Air Slash.

After enough pieces and rope were secured into place, the base was ready. So with some struggle, Katherine was able to make a mast out of the last piece of wood and some cloth that she used as bedding when they camped outside if they weren't near to a poke center. After that, she got Kibbles and Buttons to push it into the ocean with their respective strong appendages - Kibbles' large front-feet and Buttons' ears. Then she grabbed it and tied a piece of rope to the mast that was also tied cautiously around Kibbles for pulling the raft along. It seemed sturdy enough, she decided before calling the other Pokemon over.

After everyone was settled down, Glimmer resting on her trainer's head as she looked nervously at the water below her. However, Katherine didn't really notice as she told her 'starter' Pokemon to begin moving the raft so they could get on the move to Dewford island. "Alright, whilst we've moving. Lets think up strategies for the gym. It's a fighting gym based on my research," she scanned over the pokedex. "So, best bets would be Glimmer and Dawn," though a wisp of a frown appeared on her face as she looked at her beloved pet/friend. "Do you think you have enough control?"

"Espy espeon eon eon (I'll manage, plus I could always learn Dazzling Gleam)," there was a nod as she pawed at the pokedex to show the move she mentioned as a hue of a smile appeared amongst her purple fur. Katherine nodded at this, knowing that she'd need some time training when they reached the island anyway. She wanted to visit Granite Cave anyway, as it would be a great place to train for Brawly's tendencies to make his gym super dark as a challenge. Maybe she could teach Glimmer Flash in the process, it would certainly come in handy as a defensive strategy.

"Emolga...emol...(Kat, I'm scared...)" said Pokemon cried from her location on her trainer's head, the group had drifted quite far from the main land now and had arrived in the middle of the ocean. There was no turning back, Glimmer knew that. But the water unnerved and unsettled her, like she knew she would fall into it and potential drown. Noticing her Pokemon's discomfort, Kat took her into her arms and held her close in attempt to comfort her.

"Do you want to go back into your poke ball," she grasped the love ball tightly, looking down at the young Pokemon with worried eyes. Sometimes, she wanted to know the true depth of Glimmer's past. Why didn't she trust water, you think she would be brave and proud over the water territory as she could easily dominate the water types with her electric typing. Yet, here she was, cowering like a baby that had been separated from its mother in a shopping center. But at the same time, she didn't want to really know as she knew it must have been traumatizing and harsh to force this poor Pokemon into this mentally crippled - not even mentioning the devastating rips on her wings - state.

Eventually, she recieved a low moan and whine that she couldn't translate well. Looking at Dawn, her confusion seemed to get through to the psychic type. Since the psychic type was able to translate words well, even without her telepathy that her species and type were known for, she ripped some of Kat's note paper and began to write. Much like how Buttons was able to read, Dawn was capable of writing. A trick that Kat had taught her in her various attempts to help the psychic type prove her worth to her father. None of it ever worked, to him; a psychic type without its psychic powers was worthless in this world. Kat read the note when the Espeon finished. "So she said 'no'?...Does she want to be brave perhaps," she looked down at the whimpering Pokemon, there was a hint of bravery there - especially a second later when she pushed away the love ball. "That's the spirit, just don't overdo it. Alright?"

After a minute, Glimmer managed to pull herself away from Katherine's embrace and slowly walked over to Buttons - the deaf Pokemon was sat to the side and casually freezing her ears with her ice beam (Author's note: Last chapter I accidentally gave Buttons' Icy Wind, this was a mistake as Buneary cannot learn this move. So lets pretend that she learnt Ice Beam). Maybe she was trying out if she could manage Ice Punch again. Who knows with that Pokemon most of the time. But the ice punch attempts to proven when she began to punch forward with the power of her Drain Punch once again, so was she attempting to master Ice Punch? But it didn't seem like the actual move, but rather Drain Punch with the freeze effect that Buttons' iced ears could give.

"Emol emolga? (Why you freeze your ears?)," the young electric/flying type asked, she was still knew to the ground and wasn't quite accustomed to the fact that Buttons wasn't capable of hearing her. The smart Pokemon turned to her friend, seeing the curiosity in her eyes and tried to figure out what she was asking without being able to understand it.

"Bwun...bwun (Um...uh...)," there was panic in her ruby eyes as she stared down at her blue eyed friend, the Emolga looked so keen to find out why she froze her ears and yet Buttons didn't even know what the question was. "Bwunary bwun! (Dwawn, help!)," she eventually yelped out, calling for the Espeon. The psychic type turned back, sighing and writing what Glimmer had asked on a piece of paper.

"Bwun...(Oh...)," the Buneary seemed deep in thought for a second before managing to get out another raspy line of. "Bwun bwunary (Ice Punch)," before coughing a little, her voice finally catching up on her and making her go silent. It wasn't used to be using this much and this hurt a little to use. She much preferred to use facial expressions to communicate stuff, since she couldn't hear anyway to have a conversation.

There was curiosity in the Emolga's eyes even after Buttons answered her question, but she soon asked another question. Again out loud, but she realized her mistake and covered her mouth straight after the question left her mouth. "Emolga emol emol gaga? (But why freeze your ears, instead of your paws?). The paws over her mouth weren't just for the fact that she remembered that Buttons couldn't hear her, but also cause of how potential insensitive the question about her ears could be.

However, this didn't stop Dawn from relaying the message to Buttons. In the background, Kat was watching curiously as she struggled to work out what they were talking about. It was times like this that she really wished she could speak Pokemon. Maybe then she wouldn't feel as lonely as she did occasionally. Pokemon rule, humans drool. That was always her motto, ever since she realized how much she despised people for their treatment of her team. Back with Buttons, the moment she saw the question; there was a grimace on her face as she rubbed her iced ears. The ice had began to thaw out due to the heat of the region's sun, but it was still quite prominent on her ears. "Bwun-bwun bwunary (Can't hear...so what's the use in ears?...)," there was a smile sad that emerged on the normal type's face as she said this. "Bwunary bwun bwunary (Much rather freeze them and give them a use...)"

After she said this, Buttons hopped off to the other side of the raft to lean against Kat. Maybe for comfort, the girl wondered after she asked Dawn to see the questions. It was reasonable that the Pokemon would want some comfort. As for Glimmer, the electric type was now sat at the edge of the raft on her own and gazing out into the sea in deep thought (Otherwise, she would have rushed to lay back on Kat's lap). She had hurt her new friend's feelings, right? She should apologize, but she didn't know where to-

Her thoughts were promptly stopped when a small wave rushed into the raft and sent it rocking against the breeze. Said breeze rushed straight against Glimmer's able wing and sent her flying off the raft, as she yelped out in fear. "Glimmer!" Kat yelled in shock as she saw the Pokemon struggling against the waves, clearly unable to swim as her species weren't meant to. Glimmer was letting out wails for help, as she struggled against the waves that were threatening to push her under and pretty evidently succeeding. If she went under, she'd either drown or be eaten by one of the many water types that lived under the sea.

Back on the raft, Kat was panicking as she looked around through her supplies for spare rope or anything that she could. Despite being a rich kid, she had never been aloud in the pool as she had been too young prior to Dawn's evolution and afterwards - her father had decided to forbid both her and Dawn from going into the back yard as he didn't want them tainting the beautiful gardens and pool water. Thus, she was unable to swim to save her new Pokemon on her own. What was she to do. But as she heard a determined yell, she turned and gasped at the sight.

Buttons was going for the rescue, by pounding at patches of water until it froze so she could walk on it and get towards Glimmer without entering said water as she wasn't able to swim either. Each pound at the water was full of determination, the same emotion that flared up in the ruby orbs of the rabbit. No matter if Glimmer had hurt her feelings, she wasn't about to watch her new friend die on her. That wasn't right, she had to do something and she had to do it herself. It hadn't been the Emolga's fault, it was just a innocently insensitive comment and she had seen the panic emerge on the Pokemon's face afterwards. She knew that it wasn't on purpose.

At this point, the electric type was nearly under with only a paw above the surface. However, just as the paw went under, Buttons reached and grasped at it with her ears and with a strong tug the rabbit pulled her friend back towards the raft into the safe embrace of the slightly dampened wood. The electric type was frozen in fear, tears emerging in her eyes. However, she looked up at Buttons when the rabbit walked back. After a moment, she yelled out. "Emolga! (Buttons!)," she hugged the normal type, as she sobbed out the same line over and over. "Emol emol! (I'm sorry!)."

It seemed like Buttons didn't need a translation, as even though she was surprised initially - she soon moved to begin comforting the sobbing Pokemon. Not once did she say a word, she just kept moving her little paws over the back of the crying Emolga's head over and over with such care that Kat had to smile. She was so grateful that Buttons had been able to learn Ice Punch in such a short period of time. She had briefly showed her capabilities with ice before the gym, when she began to use Ice Beam as if copying Kibbles' Icy Wind. However, Kat had never anticipated using it as a combination with Drain Punch to form Ice Punch.

She walked over and took Glimmer into her hands, smiling down at the rabbit-like Pokemon as she did. "Glimmer, I think she knows. Don't worry, I'm sure she accepts your apology. Now, lets continue on to Dewford. I'll let you rest in your ball for a while," this time, instead of attempting to act brave, Glimmer let out a tired nod and entered the love ball without complaint. It was clear that the incident had taken it out of her. "Alright, Kibbles. Keep on going, we're safe now."

Dewford, here they come!

* * *

Sorry if this chapter feels a little fast paced, I wasn't quite sure how to structure it...Might re-write it if the audience wishes me to. It's up to your comments.


End file.
